


The Upside Down

by yourlionheartx



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Inspired by Stranger Things (TV 2016), M/M, Mentions of Blood, mentions of death but no character death, some horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 17:20:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12940041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlionheartx/pseuds/yourlionheartx
Summary: Zayn has been missing for seven days when the police find his body, but Liam’s been talking to him through the lights and he isn’t giving up on him.





	The Upside Down

**Author's Note:**

> Quick little Ziam/Stranger Things mash up because I just binge watched both seasons. Some spoilers if you haven’t watched it and plan to! (you definitely should)

**

 

The first time that Zayn calls, Liam is on his own in his living room in London with a cigarette in his fingers that’s about to burn him because he’s forgotten about it. He hisses and drops it in the ashtray, glancing down when his phone buzzes. He expects Louis asking him if he’s okay, if he wants to come round. _Don’t be alone, Li, please don’t be alone_. When he answers the call, Liam hears a crackling sound like white noise but louder and some kind of whirring. Then he hears ragged, panicked breaths. He knows it’s Zayn. He’s helped Zayn through panic attacks before, sat with him and held his hand until he could breathe again.

 

 “Oh God, Zayn. Zayn, where are you?” The crackling gets louder, driving right through Liam’s eardrum so his head hurts. “Zayn, please, talk to me,” he begs.

 

His phone fizzes, sparks flying from it as it shocks Liam right down his arm. He drops it in surprise, staring at the blank screen. When he picks it back up, he calls Zayn’s name but the phones dead. It doesn’t turn back on no matter how much Liam tries, his thumb jabbing at the button until it hurts.

 

 

 

Zayn’s been missing for five days. Stepped outside for a cigarette during a photoshoot and never came back. Liam found the but of his cigarette on the floor and no other sign of him. His phone’s been disconnected and, because of the strange circumstances and the fact that it’s, well, Zayn Malik from One Direction, it’s being treated as suspicious. Foul play.

 

Liam tells the police about the phone call but they can’t get his phone back on to try and track the call. It’s completely fried. Liam buys a new one and he waits.

 

Two days after the first call, Zayn calls again. Liam has the television on, but he can’t concentrate on it. When his phone rings, his hands shake as he answers.

 

“Zayn?” The same crackling, whirring, screeching. Liam winces.

 

Zayn chokes on a breath. “Liam.”

 

Liam lets out a sob, dropping his head into his hand and tugging at his hair. “Zayn, where are you? Please, tell me.” The noises get louder and Liam can hear Zayn’s breathing get faster too.

 

“Liam,” he repeats and it sounds like he’s crying.

 

Liam closes his eyes. “Are you hurt? Zayn, do you know where you are? Are you alone?”

 

The noise Zayn makes then makes Liam’s chest so tight it hurts. This horrible, pained whining sound. Liam can’t breathe. Then the crackling sound takes over, covering up Zayn’s sobs and gasps.

 

“Zayn, no, no, no, please.” Liam lets the phone fall to floor when it zaps a shock up his arm again. The screen goes blank. Liam cries out, smacking the cushions on his sofa behind him. “No,” he cries, squeezing his eyes shut. He doesn’t know what’s happening and he feels so hopeless. His boyfriend is God knows where and scared and alone and Liam can’t fucking do anything.

 

_I figured it out_

 

He snaps his head up, staring at the television.

 

_I figured it out from black and white_

 

The channels changed from the movie Liam had on to a music channel and it’s playing their song. It’s playing Liam and Zayn’s song.

 

“Zayn?” Liam whispers and the music cuts off, the television shutting off. That’s when the lights start to flicker. The lamp on the ceiling and a light on Liam’s coffee table both start to switch on and off and on and off and then the lamp shines really bright for just a second before it cuts out and the room plunges in darkness.

 

Liam swears that for just that one second he can hear Zayn breathing next to him, feel him standing right there in their house. But then the feelings gone.

 

**

  
“Liam,” Louis says, his voice so soft, so careful. He looks around the lights that surround Liam’s sofa. Liam’s got every light from the house in his living room now. “Liam, man, this is crazy.”

 

“No. No, it’s not crazy – he’s trying to talk to me. Look, Zayn, love, it’s Liam. Louis’ here, and Harry and Niall.”

 

Niall’s standing in the doorway, his hand over his mouth and Liam knows that look, knows what Niall looks like when he’s trying hard not to cry. Harry’s sitting next to Louis, staring at Liam with wide eyes.

 

“Liam – “ Louis tries again, but then one bulb flashes and Harry’s head moves to look there instead.

 

“See. You see that?” Liam asks.

 

“That isn’t Zayn, Li. That’s bad wiring. There’s been power cuts round here for days like.” Louis moves to place his hand on Liam’s knee but Liam moves away, shaking his head.

 

“I know he’s here, Louis. He’s here and he’s trying to talk to me and maybe I need – I need more lights. I need – “

 

“Liam, stop it,” Louis’ voice is firm now. Liam looks up at Niall who’s turning away. His shoulders are shaking. Harry gets off the sofa to go over and pull him into a hug. Louis sighs. “Christ, I know this is awful. I know. But he’s just – he’s missing, Liam. We’re gonna find him, I swear to God we’re gonna find him.”

 

Liam doesn’t take his eyes off of the light that blinked. “Please try and sleep,” Louis says. He puts his arm around Liam’s shoulder and Liam moves to rest his head on Louis’ chest, but he doesn’t look away from the bulb, not for a second.

 

**

 

“What if like – what if he’s right, Lou?” Harry asks.

 

Liam’s fallen asleep on the sofa and Louis has put a blanket over him and moved the lights back to the rooms they belong in. The three of them are sitting in Liam’s kitchen with now cold cups of tea. Niall pulls his sleeves over his hands, quieter than Louis thinks he’s ever been in his life.

 

“What do you mean, what if he’s right? He’s talking to his missing boyfriend through a light bulb, Harry. That’s not okay, _he’s_ not okay.”

 

Harry swallows, wrapping his hands around the mug. “But, like, we should listen to him, no?”

 

“I can’t believe you’re even fucking saying this.” Louis stands up, walking over to where he threw his jacket earlier, so he can find his cigarettes.

 

“I can’t believe you won’t fucking trust him. What if it’s true, what if it’s the only way we can find Zayn and you’re shutting it down?” Harry gets up and Niall drops his head into his folded arms on the table. Another argument. All Harry and Louis do nowadays is scream at each other and it’s getting worse.

 

Louis lets out a dry laugh. “Harry, Zayn is out there. We will find him, but not like this. This is stupid. While Liam’s talking to fucking lightbulbs our best friend could be dying somewhere.”  


“Don’t say that,” Niall says.

 

Louis looks over at him. “Sorry but come on, Ni, you’re not buying this, are you?”

 

Niall shrugs. “I don’t know. I just want him to be okay.”

 

Louis tries to light his cigarette, but his hands are shaking too much. He closes his eyes and lets out a long breath. When Harry steps forward, he steps back, bumping into the counter. “Don’t, Harry.”

 

Harry sighs and sits back down. He looks at Niall who stares down at the table with his bottom lip between his lips. It’s been a week since Zayn vanished without a trace but it’s been months since Louis even let Harry touch him. One stupid argument that went too far, one push from management that they couldn’t pick themselves up from. Harry feels like he’s been cut in half and all he wants is to hold Louis and tell him it’s okay, it’s okay and they’ll find him and everything will work out. But they don’t know that.

 

“We should all get some sleep. I don’t think I’ve slept properly in a week,” Niall says.

 

“I can’t sleep,” Louis says. Harry and Niall both nod. Harry looks up at Louis and Louis stares back, eyes wet with tears that he still hasn’t cried.

 

 

 

Louis washes up the mugs after Niall and Harry have both gone to the spare room to try and close their eyes for more than an hour. The light in the kitchen keeps flickering and it’s driving him crazy, the buzzing sound making his headache worse. He slams down the last mug and goes to switch the light off before he walks out into the living room and curls up on the other sofa in the room, his eyes on Liam.

 

“We’ll find him, Li,” he whispers into the dark. “We’ll fucking find him.”

 

**

 

Liam’s gone when Louis wakes up.

 

He sits up and looks around the room, dread settling in his stomach that feels too familiar. He remembers Zayn slipping outside and Louis saying he’ll join him in a second, before he managed to get himself caught up in some argument over where to stand in the next picture. Not next to Harry, not there. Not where I can reach out and touch him, put him somewhere else. Put him in a different fucking room if you need to.

 

“Liam,” Louis calls out. The front door opens and closes, and Louis runs out into the hall. Liam’s standing there, hair a mess, wearing the same clothes he fell asleep in. Maybe the same clothes he’s been wearing all week.

 

He’s holding six boxes of Christmas lights.

 

“Liam, what the fuck?”

 

“I’d like you to leave now, Lou. All of you. I want you all to leave.” Liam walks past Louis into the living room and he starts pulling the lights out of the boxes.

 

“We’re not going anywhere. We need to stick together. We all need each other – Li, what the fuck are you doing?”

 

Liam empties a box of nails out onto the coffee table, taking a handful and looking around the room. “I don’t want you here, Louis, get out.”  


“Liam, you’re not serious right now?”

 

“Get out,” Liam shouts. He turns to look to look at Louis. “Just get out of my house.”

 

Louis looks up at Harry and Niall who are walking down the stairs. “What’s going on?” Niall asks.

 

Liam grabs a hammer from the table and climbs onto the sofa. Louis groans, shaking his head as Liam starts to hammer the nail into the wall, moving to the left to add another.

 

Louis winces at the sound, the bang of the hammer making his head throb. He can’t leave, can’t walk out and leave his best friend to deal with this but he can’t help. He won’t encourage whatever this is. Then Harry’s walking in and grabbing a handful of the lights, untangling the wires.

 

Louis stares. “Harry, don’t you fucking dare,” he hisses.

 

“I don’t think you have any right to tell me what to do anymore, Louis. If you’re not gonna help out, then do what Liam says and fucking leave.”

 

“You’re joking right? You’ve both lost your minds.”

 

Niall walks in but stands close to Louis, watching as Harry passes Liam strings of lights to hook up on the wall.

 

“Alright, fuck this. You guys have fun talking to yourselves. I’m going to actually go out there and help people to look for him because I’m not fucking crazy.” Louis turns towards the door. He half expects Harry to call him back, so he hesitates, but when he doesn’t, Louis leaves.

 

 

 

It takes a few hours to string all the lights up. Niall passes Liam nails but mainly just watches the two of them in silence. When it’s finished, Liam sits down on the sofa as Harry walks around the house and stares at the thousands of coloured lights.

 

“Okay, now what?” he asks.

 

Liam holds up a hand to get Harry to be quiet. “Wait. Just – wait for him,” he says.

 

Niall sits down next to Liam and, after a few more minutes, Harry joins them both. The lights stay on, not flickering or flashing. “God,” Liam whispers. “Maybe I am losing my fucking mind.”

 

Niall turns his head to look behind them. “Liam,” he says.

 

They all turn. One blue light blinks on and off and then another and then all of the lights start to go on and off. Liam gets up. “Zayn? Are you here?” he asks.

 

There’s a moment of nothing and then every single light shines so brightly that the whole house lights up.

 

“Holy shit,” Niall whispers.

 

Liam breathes out a laugh. “Zayn, oh my God. Okay, can you – blink once for yes and twice for no, yeah? Can you do that, love? Can you hear me?”

 

The lights shine again, and Harry can’t help it when his mouth falls open.

 

“Zayn,” Liam swallows. “Are you alive?”

 

The pause almost drives him crazy but then the lights shine again. Once. Harry feels Niall grab his arm to steady himself.

 

“Oh, thank God. That’s – he’s alive.” Liam looks at Harry and Niall. “He’s alive.”

 

“Are you safe?” Niall asks.

 

The lights flash and then they flash again, and Liam lets out a shaky breath, crossing his arms tight around himself. “Where are you? Where can we find you, I need to find you. I – please tell me where you are.”

 

Nothing.  


“Liam, do you have any paint?” Harry asks.

 

Liam turns to look at him. “Yeah, I mean Zayn has obviously in his art room.”

 

“Alright, great. Let’s get it.”

 

They paint the alphabet on the wall behind the sofa and string the lights up so that each bulb is next to a letter. Then they step back.

 

“Okay,” Liam says, rubbing his hands together. “Okay, let’s go – Zayn, where are you? Do you know where you are?”

 

The right next to R flashes. Then I, G, H, T, H, E, R, E.

 

“Right here,” Harry whispers.

 

“What do you mean right here?” Liam asks. “How are you right here, I don’t understand - ”

 

The knocking on the door makes all three of them jump. Liam all but sprints to open it. Louis is there, shaking with sobs, his hand over his mouth.  

 

“What’s happened?” Harry asks, grabbing Louis’ arm. Louis falls forward into Harry’s arms like he can hardly stand anymore. “Louis, what’s going on?” Harry wraps his arms around Louis, pulling him close.

 

“They found his body,” Louis chokes out. Harry makes a noise in his throat and buries his face into Louis’ neck but Liam just stares them, shaking his head.

 

 “That doesn’t make any sense, we were just talking to him,” Liam says.

 

“I saw him,” Louis says, voice muffled by Harry’s shoulder.

 

Liam shakes his head. “It wasn’t him,” he says.

 

Louis pulls back from Harry. “Liam, I saw him. I saw his tattoos. I know _Zayn_ , I’m not gonna mistake someone else for him.”

 

“No, no, look – he was just talking,” Liam walks back into the living room.

 

When Louis follows, he has to hold back more tears. “Jesus Christ, Li,” he says.

 

“Zayn, hey, love. Tell Louis what you told us, you’re alive right? You’re all good?”

 

Nothing.

 

Liam looks over at Niall and Harry. “Guys?” he asks.

 

“I saw it too, Li. I did,” Harry whispers. “But if Lou saw him out there. I don’t think Lou would confuse Zayn with someone else.”

 

Liam sits down on the sofa, his legs suddenly too weak to hold him up. “Where is he?” he asks Louis.

 

“They’ve taken him to the morgue. His Mum’s gotta view the body, identify him.” Louis blinks up at the ceiling. “Fucking Christ, I think I’m going to be sick.” He leaves the room and Harry watches after him.

 

“Liam,” Niall says. He steps forward as Liam turns to stare at the lights on the wall.

 

“Right here,” Liam says. “He’s right here.”

 

**

 

Zayn’s parents identify Zayn’s body but Liam still doesn’t believe it. “Whoever it is, it isn’t him. I know Zayn’s here. I can feel him here,” he tells Louis who just sighs and shakes his head.

 

“I can’t,” Louis gestures up to the wall of lights and letters. “I can’t be here. This is insane.”

 

“Okay. You can leave, I’m okay.” Liam shrugs.

 

“Liam, he’s dead. We’re having a funeral. Do you get what’s happening here?” Louis asks.

 

Liam swallows, looking up at the lights. Obviously, that’s the problem, he has no idea what’s happening, but he knows he can’t give up. Louis watches him and then he sighs and steps towards the door. His phone starts to ring. He frowns when he pulls it out of his pocket, glancing over at Liam before he accepts the call.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Louis.”

 

Liam sees Louis’ face pale, his grip on his phone tightening in his shaking hand. “Zayn?” he asks. “Fuck, is that you?”

 

All he can hear is some kind of static noise. “Lou – gotta help me - please,” Zayn is saying, his voice too quiet against the whirring.

 

“Louis,” Liam warns but, before he gets a chance, the phone short circuits and Louis drops it with a yelp.

 

“Oh God,” Louis says, tugging at his hair with his hands. “Oh my God.”

 

All at once every one of the Christmas lights blares on and then every light in Liam’s house cuts off, plunging them both into pitch darkness. “Call Harry and Niall. _Right now_ ,” Louis says into the dark.

 

 

 

“So, like, the bodies a fake, yeah?” Harry asks.

 

“I think so. I just – why would someone do that? Why would someone fake Zayn’s death?” Louis stops pacing to sit down next to Harry and Harry immediately leans into him, his arm curling around Louis’ waist.

 

“More importantly, where the fuck is he?” Niall asks. “He said he isn’t safe but that he’s here and I don’t – this doesn’t make any sense.”

 

“What if he _is_ here?” Harry says and everyone turns to look at him. He clenches the material of Louis’ shirt, swallowing before he continues. “What if it’s an alternative dimension. Like – we’re here, right, and Zayn’s here but he’s not here here. He’s in a different here.”

 

Liam closes his eyes. “That whole sentence just gave me a headache, Haz.”  


Harry sits forward. “There’s a passage between dimensions, which I think has been opened, and I think it’s near where Zayn disappeared. I think he’s in another universe. He found his way back home but he’s not really home, he’s stuck kind of like – in this world but upside down.”

 

“Upside down?” Louis repeats. “Are you high?”

 

Harry wrinkles his nose. “I’m not high. I’m giving us something to go on, alright?”

 

“So, we can find this – this portal thingy back where he disappeared?” Liam asks.

 

“I think so.”

 

“What the hell are we waiting for then, let’s go,” Niall says from the doorway, already pulling his jacket on.

 

“This is – “ Louis starts but Harry rolls his eyes and covers Louis’ mouth with his hand.

 

“Don’t say crazy, Lou. We’ve already seen crazy. This is just an option. Let’s try everything, yeah? Don’t give up.” He drops his hand and takes hold of Louis’ fingers and, for the first time in a long time, Louis doesn’t pull back.

 

 

 

There’s a forest next to the building where the guys had their photoshoot that day. It’s where they claim to have found Zayn’s body. Apparently, he had wondered into the forest and then tripped and fallen a long way down, hitting his head against a rock.

 

None of them are really sure what it is they’re looking for until they find it.

 

In the base of a tree there’s a hole large enough for any of them to fit through. They all stop short when they see it. Then, Liam’s walking towards it, getting down on his knees to call Zayn’s name.

 

“I gotta go in,” Liam says.

 

“Um, no,” Louis crouches next to him. “Dude, there’s no way.”

 

“Louis, Zayn could be in there.” Liam takes off his backpack and starts forward but he pauses when he hears a sound, a sound he’s heard over the phone twice now, a whirring sound. He surges forward before Louis can stop him, climbing in and pushing past winding, slippery roots and what looks like webs of shedded skin. He shudders as he steps out into the dark.

 

It’s the same forest, same trees but a very different sky. Liam looks up at the darkness and around at the strange greyness that’s tinting everything. He can’t see the boys waiting for him on the other side.

 

“Zayn,” he calls out. “Zayn, where are you?”

 

That horrible noise is louder, closer, Liam guesses. He can also hear something that sounds like a screech, like a wild animal. It’s breaking Liam’s heart that Zayn could have been here this whole time, stuck here, not knowing how to leave. It’s so dark. Liam turns when he hears something like a branch snap on the floor and he feels himself frozen to spot, his stomach sinking.

 

That’s not a human. Liam isn’t sure what the hell it is, but it has long limbs and no face and there’s blood. There’s a lot of blood. Liam didn’t bring anything to use as a weapon. He tries not to breathe, not to alert the monster that he’s standing here, but it turns towards Liam slowly.

 

“Run,” Liam hears, and he turns and runs. When he glances back, Louis is swinging a huge branch at the monster and it’s falling back. “Go to your house,” Louis says. “He’s at your house.”

 

 

 

Liam has never run so fast in his life, has never had something so important to run towards. He throws open the door to his house. This upside down, topsy turvy version of where he lives with Zayn. “Zayn,” he screams. He walks into the living room and his heart stops.

 

Zayn’s lying out across the sofa, his eyes are closed and his face is too pale. Liam drops to his knees next to him, pressing his hand to Zayn’s cheek. Too cold. “No, no, don’t you do this to me, Zayn,” Liam whispers as he presses his fingers to Zayn’s neck. He finds the tump of his pulse and gasps, relief washing over him. “Okay, babe, let’s go. Let’s go home.” He lifts Zayn up and they start towards the portal.

 

**

 

Liam hasn’t taken his eyes off of Zayn. The doctors have been confused, some of them looked terrified at the sight of Liam carrying Zayn through the doors two days ago. Zayn had been dead and now he wasn’t, and no one could really understand where he had been or why someone had covered it up.

 

Liam and the boys had their suspicions. Someone important clearly knew the portal was there, maybe they caused it, and they didn’t want anyone finding out about it so they covered up Zayn’s disappearance, they thought Zayn wouldn’t be found anyway, that he’d die in the upside down. They underestimated Liam. Liam would go to the ends of the earth for Zayn.

 

He looks up as Louis walks in with a coffee and passes it over. Turns out Louis would do much the same for his boys because he beat whatever that thing that was trying to hurt Zayn was into a bloody pulp.

 

“How are you?” Liam asks. He has Zayn’s hand in his. Louis smiles down at it, a little tight, not quite crinkling his eyes, but better than it’s been in a long time.

 

Louis knows what’s being asked. “We’re good,” he says with a nod. “Think we’re gonna give it another go, you know? I thought a lot about what it would be like to lose him for good recently and the idea just about killed me.”

 

Liam squeezes Zayn’s hand and takes a sip of his coffee. He almost spits it out when he feels Zayn squeeze back. Then Zayn’s eyes are slowly fluttering open, his eyes searching the room and landing on Liam.

 

“Hey,” Zayn croaks out. “Where am I?”

 

“You’re home, Zayn,” Liam says. he leans forward, resting his head against Zayn’s chest and letting out a shaky breath when he feels Zayn’s hand on his back. “God, I love you. I love you so much.”

 

“I love you too,” Zayn says.

 

“I’m never letting you out of my sight again, you got that? Never ever.”

 

Zayn laughs. “Got it, Li.”

 

Liam pulls pack, running his fingers over Zayn’s face, over his cheekbones, his eyebrows, his nose. Zayn laughs again and ducks away. “Are you okay?” Liam asks. “I mean – really, okay? Don’t lie to me.”

 

Zayn swallows and slowly shakes his head. “I – um, it was pretty awful, Li. But, I think it’s going to be okay now. It’s over. You found me.”

 

“Yeah, love, of course. I was never going to stop looking.”

 

Liam leans in again and he misses the way Zayn stares at the ceiling for just a second, something dark flashing in his eyes, a memory, a screech. Then the door opens, and Louis leads Harry in by the hand. Niall follows.

 

“Shit, man, I can’t believe it,” Niall says.

 

“Hey,” Zayn says with a smile. “It’s good to see your ugly faces.”

 

“Missed you,” Harry says, blinking away tears.

 

“So glad you’re back, Zayn,” Louis says.

 

Zayn grins. “Good to be back.” He squeezes Liam’s hand, bringing it up to kiss his knuckles.  Outside the window, he’s sure he can see a storm brewing, the sky flashes red, but then he looks at Liam and smiles.

 

It’s going to be okay, he thinks. He’s home.


End file.
